It has been months since I made an update

partially because I have had some recent deaths of friends and family. It has made it harder to put the words on any page and hoping that they would jump up. However, I think now is the time to get some things gathered and going again.

For writers looking for outlets:

WTAW PRESS

Deadline: September 15, 2016

Unlike typical commercial presses, WTAW Press is an independent and non-profit enterprise. We plan to publish two full-length books in 2017, our inaugural year, selecting the best fiction, essays, memoir, etc., that we can find. We are looking for voices that need to be heard, building on the successful tradition of our award-winning reading series in Sausalito, CA, and welcome submissions from writers unpublished, extensively published, and in between. We want to publish books that show us more things on heaven and earth than we have dreamt of, and we will do all we can to bring our books to the attention of the readers they deserve.

This is also an opportunity for us to begin cultivating relationships, partnerships even, with others in the community such as yourselves who share our passion for the written word, and share our admiration for and advocacy of those who struggle to put words on paper. Guidelines are available at http://www.wtawpress.org/submissions. Would you please make sure your [members/readership/etc] are aware of our open reading period? Please feel free to contact us with any questions!

The Society of Southwestern Authors

See ssa.az.org for forms and information

Categories:Short Story – 2,500 words max

Personal Essay/Memoir – 2,500 words max

Poetry – 40 lines max

Prizes Awarded In Each Category:

1st: $250
2nd: $125
3rd: $75
Honorable mentions: $251st place through Honorable Mention winning
stories printed in The Story TellerCommendation – (non-monetary)only author’s name and
submission title will be printed in The Story TellerAll entries will receive judge’s comments!

Mail entry form + 3 copies of each entry to: SSA 2015 Writing Contest, P.O. Box 1928, Green Valley, AZ 85622This contest does NOT accept e-mail submissions.
Late entries will be returned unopened. Be sure your entry is post marked no later than September 30, 2016.For confirmation of receipt of entry, make sure we can read your e-mail address.
You need not attend the Awards Luncheon to receive your award.

Toledo Bend Review Literary Journal

For the next 90 days, is offering

NEW SUBSCRIBERS a FREE manuscript critique of any manuscript (fiction, nonfiction or poetry) up to 10 pages.

Open to all Poets, Writers, & all members of Writer’s Groups

New subscribers get a FREE critique of any manuscript (fiction, nonfiction or poetry) up to 10 pages.

(One free critique per subscriber) Your FREE critique is good through December 31, 2016.

We are sending out an urgent call for submissions for our debut edition. If you are interested in subscribing at this time, your manuscript that is critiqued may be used as a submission – let us know ahead of time.

This Thursday May 12th is National Limerick Day. I rarely write them, but I find them fun to compose. It might be fun for you to put the form to the test.

The Limerick Institute of Technology

The form is named after the city of Limerick, in county Limerick, Ireland. The poem’s connection with the city is obscure, but the name is generally taken to be a reference to Limerick city or County Limerick and may derive from an earlier form of nonsense verse game that traditionally included a refrain that included “Will [or won’t] you come (up) to Limerick?”The earliest known use of the name “Limerick” for this type poem is an 1880 reference to an apparently well-known tune.

One of the men associated with creating the form is Edward Lear (shown below in 1888).

Lear’s self-description in verse, How Pleasant to know Mr. Lear, ends with this stanza, a reference to his own mortality:

He reads but he cannot speak Spanish,He cannot abide ginger-beer;Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!

The rhyme scheme is strict — AABBA, which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. The third and fourth lines are usually shorter than the other three. T

The easiest limerick for me to remember is:

There was a young lady named Bright
Who’s speed was faster than light
She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned the previous night.

The American Academy of Poets declared April 21, 2016 National Poem in Your Pocket Day.

The idea is to share a poem with other for the general purpose of having fun with poetry. You can hand out a poem or recite one from memory. Who knew that poem you memorized a long time ago could come in handy. For you who have my trouble with memorization I will share a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson,

I was a member of the Old Pueblo Playwrights for years and last night I was asked by another actor (actress Halsey Taylor) to attend a meeting and perform for them. As a worder rather than an actor it was a bit of a challenge, but a fun one. The big news is that OPP is having their 25th annual Festival of New Plays.

New Play Festival
April 7-9, 2016, Cabaret Theatre, Tucson

Thursday, April 7, at 7:30: Home Again, Home Again, by Vince Flynn
Friday, April 8, at 7:30: The Guy With The Boat, by Kelly Hardesty
Saturday, April 9, at 2 P.M. Language Lessons by Reid Gilbert; Heartland, by Leslie Powell
Saturday, April 9 at 7:30: The Boxcar, by Brian Desautels.

This weekend will be the 7th Tucson Festival of Books. Join 130,000 other fans of books at the University of Arizona Mall on March 12-13. Program information is available on-line or at the event. You can check for more information at Tucson Festival of Books.

Two of JRN186 class members will be on stage.

Wynne Brown and Chris Stern

Wynne Brown

She is a contributor to Literary Field Guide to the Sonoran Desert (2016, University of Arizona).

Most recently, she also co-edited and designed the award-winning Cave Creek Canyon: Revealing the Heart of Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains(2014, EcoWear & Publishing). She is also the author of two award-winning books: More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Arizona Women(2003, 2012) and The Falcon Guide to Trail Riding Arizona(2006), both published by Globe Pequot Press/Rowman & Littlefield.

In addition, she is a member of Tucson’s Dry River Poets and is a contributor and the designer of the group’s poetry collection, Spilled (2011, Casa Luna Press).

Today’s publishing landscape offers more opportunities than ever for writers and editors to work together. Many authors hire independent specialists to develop and produce their projects, while those going the traditional publication route interact with editors of books, journals, and anthologies. Whether you’re working with an editor to develop content or tighten up prose, negotiating with the person pointing out your writing’s flaws can be a challenge. A good-faith relationship enhances both the editorial process and finished product, but how do we build that trust? Members and associates of the Editorial Freelancers Association, whose experience spans both sides of the editing/writing divide, discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of working with an editor, offering tips to maximize success.

More than 64,000 households in Arizona have horses, and Arizonans are lucky enough to have 5,000 miles of recognized trails on state and federal lands, along with approximately 600 trailheads. More/less

Sean Bernard

Sean Bernard holds degrees in creative writing from the University of Arizona, Oregon State, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His fiction has appeared in numerous journals, and his debut novel, “Studies in the Hereafter,” was published in 2015. His latest work is “Desert Sonorous,” a collection of short stories set in Tucson and the winner of the 2014 Juniper Prize.

A disillusioned office bureaucrat in the afterlife has come to realize that maybe heavier than he thought.

Aurelie Sheehan

Aurelie Sheehan is the author of three short-story collections, the latest of which is “Demigods on Speedway,” from the University of Arizona Press. “Jewelry Box: A Collection of Histories” was published in 2013 and “Jack Kerouac is Pregnant” in 1994. Her two novels were entitled “History Lesson for Girls” and “The Anxiety of Everyday Objects.” Aurelie lives in Tucson and teaches creative writing at the University of Arizona.